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  January 23, 2020 | International, Naval

  India makes initial bid selections for $7 billion submarine project

  By: Vivek Raghuvanshi NEW DELHI — India on Tuesday announced the selection of domestic and foreign defense companies for the construction of six diesel-electric submarines with air-independent propulsion technology as part of an effort worth more than $7 billion. The submarines will be manufactured in India under the Navy's P75I program and guided by the Ministry of Defence's Strategic Partnership model, which aims to build indigenous capabilities, a senior ministry official told Defense News. Two domestic shipyards companies — state-owned Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited and private sector firm Larsen & Toubro — were shortlisted to collaborate with five overseas original equipment manufacturers — Rubin Design Bureau of Russia, Naval Group of France, Navantia of Spain, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems of Germany, and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering of South Korea. “The defence acquisition council approved the shortlisting of Indian strategic partners and potential original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) who would collaborate to construct six conventional submarines in India,” the MoD said in a statement. An expression of interest was issued in June 2019 to four domestic companies: Mazagon; Larsen & Toubro; Reliance Naval and Engineering Limited; and a consortium of Hindustan Shipyard Limited and Adani Defence. An internal MoD committee rejected the Hindustan-Adani Defence bid because it did not meet eligibility requirements, and the ministry noted that Reliance Naval and Engineering did not meet financial requirements. A separate, restricted expression of interest was issued in July 2019 to the five foreign OEMs as well as Saab of Sweden. Saab chose not to participate in the program, citing lack of clarity. For the P75I program, the Rubin Design Bureau is offering the Amur 1650 submarine; France is offering the Scorpene 2000; Navantia has offered the S-80-class sub; TKMS offered its HDW class 214; and Daewoo is offering its KSS-III. The MoD official said submissions were accepted in September and selection done early this month. A senior Indian Navy official said the OEMs must provide full technology transfer of critical systems of the submarines such as air-independent propulsion technology, sensors, and communication and electronic warfare suites. They must also help establish a domestic supply chain for spare parts and material as well as assist in training the local labor force, the official added. The OEMs are free to set up joint ventures or equity partnerships, or make royalty arrangements with Indian prime partners and other domestic suppliers. Another MoD official said a request for proposals will be issued to two shortlisted Indian companies who will set up a technical partnership with one of the five shortlisted OEMs and submit both financial and technical bids by the end of 2020. Thereafter, the technical and financial bids will be evaluated, with final selection expected in mid-2022. The selection will be made based on the lowest price offered, he added. Under the P75I program, the submarines must be made up of 65 percent indigenous material. The MoD said any contract between an Indian strategic partner and a foreign OEM must include provisions for the protection of classified information. In addition, the shortlisted OEMs must confirm their willingness to cooperate with the selected Indian company, including life-cycle support and transfer of technology. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2020/01/22/india-makes-initial-bid-selections-for-7-billion-submarine-project/

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  September 8, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  GA-ASI Demonstrates AI Driven Targeting Computer with AFRL’s Agile Condor Pod

  General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., with the support of SRC Inc., successfully integrated and flew the Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL) Agile Condor Pod on an MQ-9 Remotely Piloted Aircraft at GA-ASI's Flight Test and Training Center in Grand Forks, North Dakota The Agile Condor Pod provides on-board high-speed computer processing coupled with machine learning algorithms to detect, correlate, identify, and track targets of interest. With this capability, the MQ-9 is able to identify objects autonomously utilizing its on-board Electro-optical/Infrared (EO/IR) sensor and GA-ASI's Lynx Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). Defense contractor SRC, Inc. developed the Agile Condor system for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), delivering the first pod in 2016. It's not clear whether the Air Force conducted any flight testing of the system on other platforms before hiring General Atomics to integrate it onto the Reaper in 2019. The service had previously said that it expected to take the initial pod aloft in some fashion before the end of 2016. High-powered computing at the edge enables autonomous target detection, identification and nomination at extended ranges and on-board processing reduces communication bandwidth requirements to share target information with other platforms. This is an important step towards greater automation, autonomous target detection, and rapid decision-making. GA-ASI will continue to work with AFRL to refine the capability and foster its transition to operational constructs that will improve warfighters' ability to operate in contested or denied environments. “Sensors have rapidly increased in fidelity, and are now able to collect vast quantities of data, which must be analyzed promptly to provide mission critical information,” an SRC white paper on Agile Condor from 2018 explains. “Stored data [physically on a drone] ... creates an unacceptable latency between data collection and analysis, as operators must wait for the RPA [remotely piloted aircraft] to return to base to review time sensitive data.” “In-mission data transfers, by contrast, can provide data more quickly, but this method requires more power and available bandwidth to send data,” the white paper continues. “Bandwidth limits result in slower downloads of large data files, a clogged communications link and increased latency that could allow potential changes in intel between data collection and analysis. The quantities of data being collected are also so vast, that analysts are unable to fully review the data received to ensure actionable information is obtained.” This is all particularly true for drones equipped with wide-area persistent surveillance systems, such as the Air Force's Gorgon Stare system, which you can read about in more detail here, that grab immense amounts of imagery that can be overwhelming for sensor operators and intelligence analysts to scour through. Agile Condor is designed to parse through the sensor data a drone collects first, spotting and classifying objects of interest and then highlighting them for operators back at a control center or personnel receiving information at other remote locations for further analysis. Agile Condor would simply discard “empty” imagery and other data that shows nothing it deems useful, not even bothering to forward that on. “This selective ‘detect and notify' process frees up bandwidth and increases transfer speeds, while reducing latency between data collection and analysis,” SRC's 2018 white paper says. “Real time pre-processing of data with the Agile Condor system also ensures that all data collected is reviewed quickly, increasing the speed and effectiveness with which operators are notified of actionable information.” At least at present, the general idea is still to have a human operator in the ‘kill chain' making decisions about how to act on such information, including whether or not to initiate a lethal strike. The Air Force has been emphatic about ensuring that there will be an actual person in the loop at all times, no matter how autonomous a drone or other unmanned vehicle may be in the future. An Air Force Research Laboratory briefing slide showing a concept of operations for how a drone might use Agile Condor to sense and avoid threats autonomously Still, developments such as Agile Condor will significantly reduce the amount of necessary human interaction in various parts of the targeting process, as well as general intelligence collection and initial analysis, and potentially much more, as time goes on. It could also fuse various forms of sensor data and other available intelligence together to specifically weight possible areas of interest over others and prioritize certain targets. The Air Force has also said that this system could use these capabilities to enable drones to navigate and detect and avoid potential threats automatically, including at times when its links to a control center or the GPS satellite navigation system are disrupted or blocked entirely. Sources: Press Release; The Drive https://www.uasvision.com/2020/09/07/ga-asi-demonstrates-ai-driven-targeting-computer-with-afrls-agile-condor-pod/

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  October 3, 2018 | International, C4ISR

  DARPA Selects Teams to Explore Underground Domain in Subterranean Challenge

  Self-funded teams also invited to compete; media teleconference with program manager Sept. 27 OUTREACH@DARPA.MIL The world beneath us leaves much to be discovered. These uncharted environments pose immense challenges to military and emergency personnel as they respond to threats from adversaries or natural disasters. DARPA has selected nine teams to compete in the Subterranean (SubT) Challenge – seven in the physical Systems track and two in the Virtual track – to develop new approaches to rapidly map, navigate, and search underground environments. The competition seeks to better equip warfighters and first responders to explore human-made tunnel systems, urban underground, and natural cave networks that are too dangerous, dark, or deep to risk human lives. SubT program manager, Timothy Chung, will be available for media Q&A at noon EDT, Sept. 27. Interested reporters must contact outreach@darpa.mil for teleconference details. The SubT Challenge physical Systems and software-focused Virtual competitions aim to create a community of multi-disciplinary teams from distinct fields to foster breakthrough technologies in autonomy, perception, networking, and mobility for underground environments. Teams in the Systems competition will develop and demonstrate physical systems in real-world environments. DARPA has selected seven teams to compete in the funded track of the Systems competition: Carnegie Mellon University Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia iRobot Defense Holdings, Inc. dba Endeavor Robotics Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology University of Colorado, Boulder University of Nevada, Reno University of Pennsylvania Teams in the Virtual competition will use simulation models and physics-based environments focusing on software-driven advances. The following organizations have received a contract to compete in the DARPA-funded track of the Virtual competition: Michigan Technological University Scientific Systems Company, Inc. Teams participating in the challenge will be tasked with designing and developing novel solutions that address the challenges of subterranean environments in circuits for each of the subdomains to include tunnel systems, urban underground, and natural cave networks, culminating with a final event encompassing elements from all three environments. DARPA also is seeking self-funded competitors for both the Systems and Virtual competitions. Self-funded teams will compete for prizes in each of the subdomain circuits. DARPA-funded and self-funded teams will vie for a $2 million prize in the Systems track, while the winner of the Virtual track will earn a $750,000 prize. Competitors Day will take place Thursday, Sept. 27, to convey the vision, schedule, registration information, and additional details for the DARPA Subterranean (SubT) Challenge, engage potential entrants, and provide a forum for technical exchange and teaming opportunities. For additional information on the DARPA Subterranean Challenge, please visit www.subtchallenge.com. Please email questions to SubTChallenge@darpa.mil. Image Caption: The DARPA Subterranean Challenge explores innovative approaches and new technologies to rapidly map, navigate, and search complex underground environments. Click below for high-resolution image. # # # Media with inquiries should contact DARPA Public Affairs at outreach@darpa.mil Associated images posted on www.darpa.mil and video posted at www.youtube.com/darpatv may be reused according to the terms of the DARPA User Agreement, available here: http://go.usa.gov/cuTXR. https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2018-09-26